The St. Anthony Lady Bulldogs are the No. 1 seed in the National Trail Conference Softball Tournament and they showed why Monday afternoon.

The Lady Bulldogs exploded for 12 runs in the first inning, added 10 more in the second and finished with a 22-0, three-inning victory over St. Elmo/Brownstown in an opening-round game at Evergreen Hollow Park in Effingham.

The Lady Bulldogs pounded out 18 hits in their two at-bats. Abbie Wernsing and Maddie Kibler both had two hits, including home runs, and combined to drive in nine runs and Stacie Vonderheide delivered a bases-loaded triple.

SAHS sent 16 batters to the plate in that 12-run first inning. They had 10 hits, a walk and were helped by a pair of SEB errors.

Cameron Rios led off with a base hit, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Wernsing. And that was just the beginning. Before the inning was over, Maddie Kibler had a two-run triple and a two-run homer, Grace Karolewicz added a two-run triple, and Sydney Kibler, Abbi Hatton and Lucy Fearday added run-scoring singles.

Wernsing smacked a grand slam in the second and Vonderheide added her three-run triple in the 10-run second.

Wernsing pitched all three innings to get the win. She faced the minimum of nine batters and didn’t allow a baserunner. She struck out seven of the nine batters she faced.

The Lady Bulldogs notched their ninth straight win to improve to 19-3. They will advance to face Altamont in a semifinal game Wednesday. The Lady Indians defeated Neoga 7-2 in an opening-round game. Game time Wednesday is set for 4:15 p.m.

Also on Monday, Windsor/Stew-Stras blanked Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City 15-0 and South Central beat Dieterich.